EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball had five players recognized by the Ohio Valley Conference, including freshman right-handed pitcher Grant Parson (Owensboro, Kentucky), who was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year. The OVC honors are selected by a vote of the institution head coaches and the athletic media relations directors.
Parson, who also received second team All-OVC and All-Freshman team honors, is 4-3 this season with a 3.90 ERA in 60 innings of work. The right-hander, who became the first Eagle to earn an OVC Pitcher of the Week award earlier this month, is among the OVC leaders, ranking fourth in ERA and tied for ninth in strikeouts (60).
Parson posted a season-high nine strikeouts in a win Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and has reached the seventh inning in four of his last five starts.
Joining Parson on the OVC second team are senior first baseman/designated hitter Tucker Ebest (Austin Texas), junior right-hander Gavin Seebold (Jeffersonville, Indiana), and senior outfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan).
Tachioka leads USI and ranks second in the OVC with a .377 batting average (66-175) in 45 games this season. He also has 41 runs scored, six doubles, one triple, and one home run, while leading the Eagles with 17 stolen bases.
The USI leadoff hitter also made his move up the Eagles’ record book this season. Tachioka enters the post-season ranked 11th in triples (7) and stolen bases (53), 19th in runs scored (126), 21st in total bases (226), and 22nd in hits (181) all-time at USI.
Ebest, who was second-team All-OVC as a utility player, was USI’s source of power in the lineup. He posted a team-high nine home runs and 51 RBIs, while hitting .271 with 32 runs scored. The senior utility player has hit 21 home runs in his two-year USI career, ranking seventh all-time, in addition to entering the top 20 all-time in RBIs with 104.
Seebold was 4-0 in OVC action and led the Eagles with a 6-2 mark overall this season. The junior right-hander ranks third on the Eagles and fifth in the OVC with a 4.14 ERA and was second on the staff with 55 strikeouts. He posted a career-high seven strikeout on the road at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
USI freshman right-hander Clayton Weisheit (Ferdinand, Indiana) joined Parson on the OVC All-Freshman team. Weisheit is 0-1 this spring with a 4.05 ERA and three saves, striking out 28 batters in 40 innings of work.
USI Baseball begins tournament play Wednesday at the 2024 OVC Baseball Championship. The Eagles are the fourth seed after going 25-30 overall and 14-13 in the conference season. USI received a first-round bye and will play Wednesday at 4 p.m., awaiting the winner of the matchup between fifth-seeded Tennessee Tech University and eighth-seeded University of Tennessee at Martin.
The OVC Baseball Championship can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+, while ESPN 97.7FM also will have live on the radio and online broadcasts of USI games. The links to follow all of the action can be found on USIScreamingEagles.com.
